Ridgewood Live Event 2026

The “Ridgewood Live Event” started Friday. The great part about Ridgewood is that one can readily watch two games and parts of a third game from the same seat in the Ridgewood High School Gym. Ridgewood coach Chris Mroz and his staff do a tremendous job putting on this event.

Early Friday I got to see some top players—Cole Kelly and Brady Pettigrew, and teams I usually cover during the basketball season—DePaul Prep, Benet, Lincoln Park, St. Ignatius, Loyola and Mount Carmel. I wasn’t able to see Lane and St. Laurence. They play today and tomorrow.

Another reason I very much enjoy this “Live” event is that I get to talk to high school basketball observers who know far more than I do on this subject. They usually set me straight on this I thought I knew.

Key take aways—

Cole Kelly looked like great. Scoring inside and out, dropping 3’s, grabbing boards. This junior may be the best player in the state at this point. Except for maybe, Brady Pettigrew was playing on the court next to where Kelly was putting on a show. Pettigrew was playing gingerly after having recently suffered a serious injury. But playing none-the-less and playing well.

DePaul Prep had two games early in the tournament. First was Rock Island. The starting line-up that Coach Kleinschmit went with was Blake Choice, Gus Johnson (now surprises there), then sophomore Kalob Hayes on the point, junior Jacob Only on a wing and junior senior guard Josiah Payne. This can obviously change. It will be interesting to see if and how the line-up changes. Whatever the starting line-up is, we will see a great deal of Elie Ghattas and Henry Levin.

The Rams handled Rock Island. They looked in mid-season form on offence and defense. Blake Choice was scoring inside and out. Gus Johnson took a beating inside from the brutal Rock Island Rocks but scored despite the felonious aggression of the Rocks. Caleb Hayes finished his layups which is great to see in a sophomore point guard.

The Rams’ second game, an hour after the first, was against Curie. The Rams started fast opening a ten-point first half lead. In the second half, Curie went to a full court trapping press and chipped away at the lead. On the small court, Curie exceptionally physical full court trap was affective. But not effective enough, the new DePaul Prep line-up held the Condors off and won 43-40. Not that the win matters at all but what I saw was a young Rams team took all the beating that Curie could dish out and held the lead. It is very hard get ten down on a Tom Kleinschmidt team and win the game.

Benet was Benet. The new starters and the bench players filled their roles and won easily.

Loyola was Loyola. They were very athletic and active if a little rough around the edges when finishing at the rim and launching threes. Coach Livatino will get that fixed.

Loyola played Lincoln Park, another team in the coverage area. The Lions too looked a little rough around the edges but big and very physical. One knowledgeable observers thought they will struggle a little this coming season and finish in eight or ninth place in the Chicago Public League. Looks like they will have work to do to get back the CPL championship game in 26-27.

St. Ignatius looked like a well-oiled machine systematically dismantling Hillcrest 59-21. Everybody can score. Amir Tucker looks to have taken a step up even from stellar play last year. The whole team contributed. Junior Walter Ross impressed me. He can score and finish at the rim. They will be in the mix for the new Chicago Catholic League.

My old East Suburban Catholic Conference, a conference that my school St. Viator dominated for two decades by the time I was in high school some forty years ago, has now folded. The larger schools have joined the Chicago Catholic League. For basketball, the CCL will have three division this upcoming year.

Blue                                 White                             Red

Benet                               DeLaSalle                      Aurora Central

Brother Rice                     Fenwick                        Carmel

DePaul Prep                     Joliet Catholic               IC Catholic

Loyola                             Leo                           Nazareth

Marist                             Marmion Academy    Montini

Mount Carmel                 Marian Catholic             Providence

St. Ignatius                      Notre Dame                    Providence-St. Mel

St. Laurence                     St. Francis                     St. Francis de Sale

St. Patrick                        St. Viator                       St. Rita

The Blue is stacked with a ton of state tournament experience. It was been said by many that the Chicago Catholic League is the toughest conference in the state. The CCL Blue is even tougher with the addition of Marist, Benet and St. Patrick—the reigning 4A state champ, the runner up and a recent state 3A finalist.

Both St. Laurence and Mount Carmel are returning top players are expected to contend for a state title. Loyola is returning top players and is always tough. The eventual winner of the conference title will probably have multiple conference losses. It is any team’s title to earn.

As for the Chicago Public League, one well-known commentator who I pumped for information told me to keep an eye on Lane Tech. Their four wins at R-B did not go unnoticed. He said “Cole Christian is a stud. They are fast and they move the ball well.” He said the Champions will be at the top of the Public League with Curie, Whitney Young and Crane.

That’s what I’ve got for you.

I expect to see St. Laurence and Lane tomorrow so I will have my further impressions. More tomorrow.

R-Bs from the Past

Yesterday, I posted that I had been going to the Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout. Then today, while looking for something else, I found folders with the schedules and rosters from the 2021 and 2021 R-Bs.

I thought I would look to see which players were at R-B those years. 2021-2022 was the year of the great Glenbard West team, Caden Pierce, Braden Huff, et. al. The note I have next to that roster is “huge team.”

Jeremiah West was on Joliet West that year. R-B had top player that year. The State of Illinois had a top player. Miles and Wesley Rubin were on Simeon. Morez Johnson was on St. Rita. Nick Martinelli from Glenbrook South. Cameron Christie from Rolling Meadows.

If there was that kind of star talent this year at R-B, I didn’t know who they were. That’s okay. I will just pay more attention, study Prep Hoops to identify the top players.

The group of DePaul Prep players included Jaylin McElroy, Payton Kamin, PJ Chambers and Dylan Arnett. The Rams finished in 3rd place in 2A that year.

Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout

Best days of the summer.

I have been going to the R-B Summer Shootout for quite a few years. Not exactly sure how many but many. It’s usually right when baseball ends as it was this year. Lane had fallen to eventual 4A champs Libertyville in the Super on Monday. A couple days of summer and fall and basketball season started on Friday with the R-B. Just the way I like it.

This is going to be different basketball season. Our DePaul Prep Rams will have a different team. Gone are Rashaun Porter, Rykan Woo and AJ Chambers three multiyear starters that new nothing but reaching the state finals.

We do have starters Blake Choice and Gus Johnson back. Blake Choice looks like he will score most of the points. Gus scores a lot too and will man the boards. It was the other players that I wanted to check out.

Senior Elie Ghattas impressed on the boards and scoring. Sophomore Kalob Hayes looks like he will play point guard a lot. Ball handling was not an issue and he can shoot the three as well. Senior Henry Levin and AJ Williams are impressive three point shooters but it doesn’t help that they look so much alike. I was constantly got them mixed up.

Coach Kleinschmidt rotated everyone in and out in each of the games. It looked the starting line up is a work in progress with positions to be won and lost. Like I wrote above, a different kind of season for the Rams.

Seeing DePaul Prep was only part of the reason for R-B for me. It is a great opportunity to see teams I don’t get a chance to see.

The big news, that everyone expected, was that Jaxson Davis from Warren is going to some prep school in Missouri. I guess that is just what happens now—the best player in the state moves off to a prep school. Whatever. I can hardly blame the kid and his parents.

Benet just restocked blue chippers. They will be right there but in the Chicago Catholic League this year with the merger of the East Suburban Catholic Conference in all sports now, not just football.

I also saw St. Lawrence and Loyola. The Vikings look very good. They should challenge for the top spot.

I find my self writing the following often—“Loyola is Loyola.” The Ramblers are always good with Tom Livatino coachin’ ‘em up. I guess we will see if how the Ramblers will do with a shot clock. They are still going to be Loyola, even with a shot clock.

I actually didn’t get to see Mt. Carmel which could not be helped. An unnamed coach from another CCL team that I spoke to said Mt. Carmel could be special this year. We will have to keep an eye on them.

A team I did see that impressed me was DeLaSalle. Watch out for them. The might sneak up a few folks.

Interestingly, Lane went 4-0 at R-B with wins over Oswego East, Glenbard West, Lincoln Way East and Lake Forest even after losing so many starters. I wasn’t expecting four wins. Keep an eye on Champions and especially on junior center Cole Christian.

Finally, Whitney Young is good and BIG and talented. I did not get to see Curie and Simeon but they will have their hands full with the Dolphins.

Lane Falls to Libertyville 2-1 in 4A Super-sectional.

[Preview of this week’s article in Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

Lane’s historic season comes to an end. The Champions fell to the Libertyville Wildcats 2-1 in the class 4A Super-sectional game on Tuesday in Schaumburg. The Champions finished the season 33-7; 14-0 in the Chicago Public League.

The super was as close as it gets. The difference was the hitting of Liberyville senior first baseman Bradon Tolzien who drove in both Wildcats’ runs on two doubles to the wall in right.  

In the bottom of the first, Tolzien came up with two outs and leadoff hitter Trevor Wallace on first, Tolzien fought off pitch after pitch, including seven foul balls.

“I knew [Lane starter Ronan Owens] was gonna have to come slider at some point. I was just kept fouling off the fastball. So I was looking for him to hang one. He finally did and I was able to put in the gap,” Tolzien said.

Wallace from first for the first run of the game.

“He had great at bats. We knew he was one of their bigger bats, but we challenged him early. He fouled off like seven or eight pitches. He finally got to one he could handle,” said Lane head coach Sean Freeman of Tolzien’s first inning run-batted-in.

Again, in the bottom of the fifth, Libertyville’s Trevor Wallace singled to lead off the inning. Tolzien come up again but this time facing Champions left-handed pitcher Cruz Warren. After Wallace had advanced to third and two out, Tolzien crushes another double, this time to the right field corner to score Wallace from third.  2-0 Wildcats.

“I knew at 3-1 he had it comes to give me something to hit. So I was sitting on fastball. I got it. I was able to put it [out there,] Tolzien continued.

After Tolzien’s two RBIs, the game was by no means over. Champions’ hurlers Ronan Owens, Cruz Warren and Hunter Smith combined to shut down Libertyville. The Champions rallied with a run in the top of the sixth to make it 2-1. Isaiah Martin scored from third on Zolan Wyatt’s single with one out.

Things looked up for Champions in top of the seventh when Miles Mazonowski crushed a ball to deep left field that looked like it might be a game tying home run but it stayed in the park for a long single.

Libertyville pitcher senior Chase Lockwood recovered. A pinch runner for Mazonowski was caught stealing, and Lockwood retired the side for a complete game with seven hits, one run, one walk and seven strike outs.

“Obviously, Lockwood on the mound did a great job. We had our chances late. Just couldn’t quite get it done. They are a great team and a great program. To be the champs, you gotta beat the champs. They were just a touch better than us tonight,” said Freeman.

“It's the most wins we have had and the farthest we've gone in the state tournament since I've been the head coach. So overall it's been an incredible year. These guys are taking us to new heights and raised the bar yet again. We're getting close and excited that get after it in the next year with the returning kids,” Freeman added.

Northcenter Chamber of Commerce Ribfest 2026

Ribfest kind of snuck up on me this year despite meetings for months. It was a great event. The food was great. The weather was gorgeous. My college friends came. Even my darling children made an appearance.

I ate a lot of ribs. All were good. Some were better than others. Aussom Aussie Barbecue won both Critics’ Choice and People’s Choice Awards. Quite a coup for our friends from downunder. First time a participant has ever won both Critics’ Choice and People’s Choice awards.

See you next year at Ribfest!

DePaul Prep Hockey's First Ever Game, 7-4 Win Over Cloudbusters

DePaul College Prep has started a hockey team. This group of Rams had their first game Friday night at the Blackhawks Ice Rink across from the United Center. These new Rams defeated the Cloudbusters, a club team from Oklahoma, 7-4, on Friday, May 29, 2026.

To start at least, the DePaul Prep hockey team will be in the Chicago Catholic Hockey League, a conference with other Catholic school hockey programs, such as Fenwick, St. Viator, and Carmel.

“It’s a good league for us to join out of the gate here. I am excited for the guys, but we will start at the junior varsity level in the first season,” said David Heflin, the first ever head coach of DePaul Prep hockey.

“I think excitement is probably the best word for sure but pressure is definitely part of the equation,” Heflin continued.

“DePaul Prep has a very prestigious athletic program. When we come in as a hockey program, we are just looking to build on top of that. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel in terms of what the DePaul culture is and how they have been so successful. We are just trying to take what they currently have and make it our own with the hockey team moving forward.”

They must know that they have a lot to live up to as a DePaul Prep athletic team because they did not start slow. The Rams beat the Cloudbusters 7-4 in a high scoring affair.

It might be more correct to write that a DePaul Prep hockey team started. Technically, the team is separate from the school and is more like a club than a varsity sport. I understand that is the way hockey works for the most part. That won’t matter much. The players on the team are, or soon will be, students at the school.

DePaul Prep junior Colin Burke, an Old Irving Park neighborhood resident and graduate of St. Edward School, became the first hockey player to ever score a goal for DePaul Prep with 8:52 remaining in the first period. He was pretty excited after the game with a giant smile on his face.

“It feels pretty good. Brand new program. Great school. I am excited,” Burke said.

“We are all very excited. DePaul has tons of sports, tons of great sports, we a glad to be included. It’s just going to be a lot of fun.”

Burke did not seem to be phased by expectations of being a DePaul Prep sport given the school’s remarkable athletic successes since being established.

“I don’t think we will be able to live up to [championship] expectations in the very beginning but overall that’s how you build a good team. You gotta start at some point. I am sure the basketball team wasn’t great when they first started but they built it over time and that’s what we are going to do,” Burke said.

And so we are off, hockey at DePaul Prep. Hockey will we be a fall sport with a short two month spring season too. The games will be at the Chicago Park District’s McFetridge Sports Center, 3841 North California, just north of DePaul’s Fr. Gordon Campus, the old Gordon Tech facility.

More to come on this for sure. I have a lot of learning to do on how to photograph hockey. It is challenging as one might be able to tell from the terrible photos below. God willing I will learn quickly, especially if I can get some help from the super talented Sun-Times photographer Kirsten Stickney, an expert hockey photographer in addition to all the other sports.

DePaul Prep Wins Playoff 1-0 Over Loyola; Lane Tops St. Patrick 8-5

[Preview of this week’s Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

“One for the ages.”

That’s what I wrote in a preview early in the week about Saturday’s 4A regional final between Chicago Catholic League rivals DePaul Prep and Loyola Academy. And well, it actually turned out that way.

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Loyola Academy Ramblers 1-0 at Kerry Wood Cubs Park in extra innings. Rams’ senior first baseman Nolan Hecht doubled off the right field fence to score Quinn Roberts with one out in the top of the ninth. The only run all day.

The biggest hit of his life?

“Ya, that was really cool,” Hecht said. “It was a four-seam fastball. I got that pitch in the last  at bat. I knew I was getting it again [for the first pitch]. I just jumped on it.”

It was a great day for Rams pitching. Senior left-hander Liam Daly was spectacular starting the game for the Rams; five innings, one hit, no runs. Rams’ junior right-hander Finn Nash finished the game and got the win after four innings of two hit baseball.

“I didn’t even know we were in extras. It was kind of crazy actually. I didn’t even know I was in that moment,” Nash said about his appearance.

This Rams victory seems unlikely from the start. It was against the odds. They had beaten Loyola twice already this year: a 5-4 company win on May 11and a 12-9 slugfest the following day. It’s really hard to beat a team three times in a row.

Not only that but the Rams had chances early in the game and failed to capitalize. First and second with nobody out in the both the top of the second and the top of the third. Runners again in the top of the fifth and six. The Rams looked snakebit.

DePaul Prep skipper Sam Colon knew he had to dig deep to get his team ready for this one.

“This is why you got up at 5:00 to practice in December. You did it for today,” Colon told his team before the game.

Sam also put in a lot of time arguing with the umpires during early innings after some head scratching calls.

“You gotta show intensity. I had to show my guys I was willing to fight for them. I am willing to go to bat for them too. I am a high energy guy and I want to be able to provide that for my team,” Colon said.

It was that kind of intensity that Quinn Roberts, Nolan Hecht and Finn Nash carried into the ninth. It was that intensity that the Ramblers lacked.

The Rams’ gritty victory actually happened right in front of their next opponent. The extra inning affair meant the Lane Tech players and coaches watched the final three innings and saw firsthand the intensity and focus of the immediate neighbors.

The Champions opened fast against the Shamrocks scoring five runs in the first. The Shamrocks drew even in the top of the fourth, but the Champions proved their metal adding three more runs in the fourth and fifth.

Lane Tech’s Cruz Warren earned the victory after going four innings, with four hits, one run and striking out six. The Champions will DePaul Prep at Kerry Wood in Wednesday’s sectional semi-final game, at Kerry Wood Cubs Field, a fitting battleground between the two schools.

DePaul Prep Defeats Evanston 6-4

The DePaul Prep Rams closed out the regular season on Saturday with a 6-4 win over the Evanston Wildkits at Kerry Wook Cubs Field on Saturday morning.

The Rams had everything in control leading 6-1 going into the top of the seventh. The Wildkits scored three runs but with only one out but Keaton Murphy got the save with one one pitch. The Evanston hitter bounced into a 6-4-3 game ending double play.

The Rams finished the regular season with an 18-16 record on the regular season. The Rams open the IHSA 4A baseball playoffs on Thursday against Northside College Prep at Kerry Wood Cubs Field at 4:30 p.m.

DePaul Prep v. Taft--Late Post of Girls' Soccer Photos

Last Tuesday, the DePaul Prep Rams girls soccer team defeated Taft 3-0 in the IHSA 3A Regional Semi-final at Knute Rochne Stadium. This post was overtaken by events in that the Rams subsequently lost 3-1 to Lane Tech in the Regional Championship game on last Friday evening.

It was the Rams last victory of the season. I posted the photos on Instagram already but I am putting them up here so you can get a better view than on your phones.

DePaul Prep's Tough Loss to Riverside-Brookfield

Last week was full. I shot the five events in six days:

DePaul Prep baseball v. Riverside Brookfield on Monday;

DePaul Prep soccer v. Taft on Tuesday;

Taft v. Whitney Young baseball championship on Thursday;

DePaul Prep soccer v. Lane on Friday; and

DePaul Prep baseball v. Evanston on Saturday.

I got my money’s worth of the Canon EF-100-300mm f2.8 telephoto lens that I rented for the week. That bad boy is sweet. It is so sharp. The 2.8 f-stop makes such a difference in evening games. I have to get one. They are really expensive so I will have to shop around and save my pennies. But I have to get one.

I digress. It’s time to start posting the photos from the week.

The first game was DePaul Prep v. Riverside-Brookfield on Monday evening at Kerry Wood. It was a heart-breaker for our Rams. 2-0 lost against R-B’s senior pitcher Ronnie Murray who hurled a masterpiece. A complete game shutout only giving up 3 hits, 1 walk with 9 strike-outs. Sometimes you run up against an ace.

These are my photos from the game.

Lane Tech Defeats DePaul Prep 3-1 to Win 3A Regional

[Preview of this week’s story in Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

Lane Tech girls’ soccer defeated DePaul Prep 3-1 in IHSA 3A Regional final Friday evening. The control and trepidation of the first half exploded into back-and-forth frenetic pace and four goals in the second half.

Although the two schools are literally right next to each other, this game was played out at CPS’s Knute Rochne Stadium because Lane Stadium is having the track replaced. That didn’t matter to the teams. Had the game been played on the moon, it would not have mattered. Both teams were dialed in.

By all accounts, Lane Tech was considered the favorite coming in. The Champions controlled the ball most of the first half playing in the DePaul Prep end of the field. Even so, the Rams’ defense was solid. Not only did the defense hold off serious challenges by Lane, DePaul turned the tables on Lane with some break aways and multiple shots on goal.

Lane Tech had a game on their hands going into the half. DePaul Prep was not just hanging around, the game was largely even. Lane head coach Sean Harkness had some work to do at half time.

“ We knew that the opportunities were there. We knew that we could control this game. We just talked at half time about to focus on what we can control, focus on the movement off the ball, trust one another to make the passes to connect from back to front, connect amongst the central mids and the forwards. Once they trusted each other it just opened up. They were so positive and confident at half time, about [what they needed to do], they made all the adjustments,” Harkness said.

The second half was different. The speed and energy for both teams ramped up exponentially. Both teams turned on the offense.

Lane Tech senior Caitlyn Shane opened the scoring.

“Olivia Winters passed it through past Kendall [Willis] and I just kind of one-touched it. I was in the perfect spot, the right spot at the right time,” said Shane.

It was a great pass but it was a great finish by Shane to open the scoring.

Just a few minutes later, that same freshman Olivia Winters who made the great pass added a goal of her own from right in front of the goal.

There was no let up. The Rams quickly answered on a long break away. Junior Ivy Lisnich scored a great shot from left of the goal to make the score 2-1.

With 6:18 to play Lane dealt the death blow on a corner kick from Caitlyn Shane. Lane sophomore Rebecca LoVerde headed the ball in a crowd of DePaul defenders making the score 3-1.

“Just the control to just flip it in, and it was such a soft contact too. To have that kind of touch and dexterity on a header coming in that hard, just to like ‘dink’ right in the corner, it was unbelievable,” is how Harkness described the goal.

DePaul Prep coach Kelly Keckler was a little emotional after the game.

“Very successful season. We set a lot of goals for ourselves. We accomplished almost all of them except for tonight. I am really proud of them. They never backed down from moving from 1A to 2A to 3A. Every time we stepped up a division, they just stepped up with it,” Kecker said.

Lane moves on the play the winner of New Trier and Niles West in the sectional semi-final on Wednesday.

Taft Defeats Whitney Young 6-1 in City Championship at Wrigley

The City Championship this year was a real treat. It was a chance to shoot at Wrigley Field, on a beautiful evening, treated to an entertaining game with great personalities.

The Taft Eagles defeated the Whitney Young Dolphins 6-1 Thursday evening.

The star of the game was Taft’s left handed pitcher Carlos Gonzalez who had a complete game victory only giving up one inconsequential run late when when the game was firmly in hand.

“I knew I was going to get my big moment. I knew I was made for this. I asked it God a lot of times before this game. And it happened,” Gonzalez said after the game.

Carlos really added something to the game. I have never seen a pitcher so fired up. Yelling and cheering after the third out in each inning. He’s a good hitter too.

“It means everything. I’ve been working on this since last year. It means everything to me. I pitched my heart today. And, we did it. I am very proud of this team. Great things are coming for us. This is the best experience of my life,” said Gonzalez.

“The adrenline that you file when you pitch in a game like that. My parents were there. My friends were there supporting me. That really gave me the energy to pitch today. I have always been like always,” Gonzalez added.

“I am very grateful to say that I played here and that we won the City Championship here.”

This was Taft’s first City Championship in baseball since 1964.

This was great of the Cubs to host the City Championship. These young players were treated to life long memory. Those boys, and one girl, now can say I played a game a Wrigley Field. They Cubs just created generations of Cub fans.

Lane Handles Payton 18-0 on Senior Day

[Preview of this week’s Inside—Booster story.]

By Jack Lydon

It was senior day at Kerry Wood Cubs Field, Thursday afternoon for the Lane Tech Champions. Many times it can be a struggle for graduation seniors to get a win at home on  on senior day.

Not this time. This group of Champion seniors came out fired up.

Lane Tech put 10 runs on a very good Walter Payton College Prep Grizzlies group that came into the game was 14-9-1 and in 4th place in the Chicago Public League’s Jackie Robinson North conference.

It didn’t take long for this group of seniors to put runs on the board, well not actually on the scoreboard. The scoreboard at Kerry Wood remains broken as it has been for years. The Champions scored six runs in the bottom of the first and four more runs in the bottom of the second capped off by a long home run over the left field fence by senior first baseman Zolan Wyatt.

“I didn’t think I got all of it. It was off the end [of the bat]. But I am glad it went. I was just trying to get an RBI for the team,” Wyatt said. That was his third home run this year.

The Champions added eight more runs in the bottom of third ending the slaughter rule shortened game after three and half innings at 18-0 Lane.

Not this group of seniors. Not this special Lane team. They were just fired up by it and come out bounding the ball

“The seniors were hungry and wanted to win and I am glad we did,” Zolan Wyatt continued.

“This was really nice and really special because of all the seniors. I told them, ‘I get it. I know it’s your day but on the baseball end of things you want to win and play well.’ I was really happy to see that we got a lead early. It makes some of the move you want to make to get everybody in a lot easier to do,” said Lane Tech head coach Sean Freeman.

With the hard part of conference play behind them and the conference championship wrapped up, one cannot help but look forward to the CPL City Championship tournament that starts this week. It is particularly special for this group of seniors because the championship game will be held at Wrigley Field on May 21st.

When asked if he was looking forward to playing at Wrigley Field, Zolan Wyatt said, “Absolutely. It’s a dream. Just to be able to get on the field. We have got to take it game by game. Can’t take it that far ahead.”

With the Champions improving their record to 24-4 overall and 14-0 in the conference, it’s hard not to look ahead. A conference championship game at Wrigley Field seems quite likely. It would be hard for high school boys not to think about playing at Wrigley Field.

But Lane Tech has bigger thoughts and expectations. They also have a chance to get to the IHSA State Championship in Joliet this year. Stay tuned.

Lane Tech Tops Lincoln Park 4-1

[Preview of this week’s article in Inside-Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

“Something special is happening with @LTBaseball (19-4) this season.”

That was a tweet by Benjamin Wong, a Lane Tech baseball parent, lawyer and Lane’s LSC president after the Champions’ 8-0 victory over Stevenson.

Lane is having a special season indeed. After a rough start, the Champions have put together a string of nineteen straight wins, dominating every team in the Chicago Public League and chalking up nice wins against 4A powerhouses, Loyola Academy, Glenbrook North, Evanston, New Trier and Stevenson.

Their only losses came in the first five games of the season and that “was with a whole different lineup when we were still figuring things out,” in the words of Lane Tech head coach Sean Freeman.

Friday afternoon’s game was tied 1-1 after four and a half innings and looked like that string might come to an end at the hands of Northside rival Lincoln Park and their sophomore pitcher rising star Rio Francois.

It was clear early on that the Champions were experiencing something of a letdown after the long string of victories and the recent 8-0 shellacking of 4A powerhouse Stevenson. The Champions had four strikes looking—call third strikes. The which ended innings, very unusual for the normal aggressive Champion hitters.

“That is one thing I was not pleased with at all. Our lack of focus and energy today, that’s were that shows up,” Freeman admitted.

“I thought we played some good small ball. Rory Irwin laid down two great punts. Sometimes when it’s not your day, you’ve got to find a way to make it happen and he did that. Which is a huge help for our offense.”

It sounds bad but it really wasn’t. The Champions never really seemed in danger of losing. Lane’s pitchers Alex Delaney and Hunter Smith had things in hand. While they had base runners in the early innings, a big inning never materialized, nor did it even seemed like it would.

Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Luke Kam walked and stole second. Rory Irwin cracked a sharp grounder to short which went right under the fielder’s glove scoring Kam from second. Paris Head then walked and later scored on Alex Ziegler’s single. The Champions manufactured two runs and would go on to win 4-1.

Very good teams find a way to win when they are emotionally down. Very good teams find a way to win when lesser teams find a way to lose.

Ben Wong and his tweet got it right. This is a good team, a special team. Ben Wong should know his Champions. He has had three sons play baseball at Lane for Sean Freeman. His middle son Ryan was a star pitcher for the Champions who later played baseball at Caltech and now works for the Chicago Cubs baseball operations group tracking player performance at all levels of Cubs teams. Baseball is quite scientific now, thanks, in part, to former Champions.

Lane Tech Tops Maine South 5-0 →

Lane Tech is on a roll. The Champions (16-4, 8-0) defeated the Maine South Hawks (11-9, 4-2) 5-0 at Kerry Wood Cubs Field Saturday afternoon. Fifteen straight wins for the Champions after a rocky 1-4 start to the 2026 campaign.

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First Slice Andersonville Pie Shop

A friend of mine recently visited from out-of-town. She looked up places to visit on Time-Out Chicago’s Instagram posts and came up with First Slice Andersonville, a pie place,  to visit. I rode up there with her to check it out and eat some pie 

My friend comes from PA farm country  and  has been making pies from scratch most of her life. Her mother was also a master pie baker. She knows a lot about pies, including how hard it is to make a good one 

Although I’ve tasted great pie, this is my first try at being a food critic. So swallow these opinions with a grain of sugar. 

This place is up on Ashland in Andersonville, obviously, across the street from the Edgewater Historical Society. It’s a little corner store front with a seating area in the back.  

We tried four different slices of pie: Balsamic Raspberry Pear, Strawberry Rhubarb, Michigan Sour Cherry and Traditional Apple. 

 The first one I had was the Traditional Apple. Not good. Tasted terrible. There were no discernable slices of apple. The crust was the texture of a wet paper towel. The filling was overly sweet drowning out any chance the apples had of shining through. No tartness or apple taste at all.  

The second slice was Balsamic Raspberry Pear. Let’s just say it did not taste good. It had the consistency and texture of Jello. The crust was extremely thin and a little chewy-Not a good traits in a pie crust. It had a raspberry flavor , but if there was supposed to be some discernible pear or vinegar flavor, I missed it. So did my companion.  

The third slice was Strawberry Rhubarb. I have fond memories of my grandmother’s strawberry rhubarb pie from my childhood. The only thing I tasted in the Fresh Slice pie was dull strawberry. The bigger problem again was the texture. My friend said it had also been overly thickened.  The filling did not have any natural fruit flavor or juice. Because rhubarb is naturally sour, the idea of adding the strawberries adds natural sweetness to balance the rhubarb. The Fresh Slice offering was a missed opportunity.  

The fourth and final slice was the Michigan Sour Cherry. Before last Thanksgiving, my friend paid $100 to have  some Michigan sour cherries shipped to her to make pies. She knows a good deal about cherry pies. The Fresh Slice piece of pie was actually pretty good, something of a pleasant surprise given its predecessors. Although, it too was over thickened and had no natural fruit juice, the crust was better and the filling did taste like cherry. Worth eating but it also had some issues. The crust was drier than the others but not exactly flaky. This pie was okay, edible but not much better than okay.  

Fresh Slice Andersonville did have something a little interesting. There is an interesting bench to sit at in the front window, and the coffee was good.  

Since the city offers lots of amazing coffee and good benches, we are not likely to return to this spot.

DePaul Prep Athletic Facility Ground-breaking

[Preview of this week’s Inside—Booster article.facility.]

By Jack Lydon

DePaul College Prep broke ground Thursday afternoon on the construction of its new athletic facility. Chicago Roman Catholic Archbishop Blase Cardinal Cupich, DePaul Prep president Mary Dempsey, Athletic Director Patrick Mahony and three-time basketball state championship coach Tom Kleinschmidt opened construction on the athletic complex.

Construction is expected to cost $32 million and not be completed until the start of the 2027 school year late next summer. The 74,600 square foot facility will include multiple gyms, an indoor track, locker rooms, a strength and weight training room and a wrestling room. The new complex will be situated on the existing parking lot north of the school building. The facility will feature a competition gym and a multiple court field house. President Mary Dempsey announced that the court in the competition gym will be named for basketball coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

“I think athletics helps draw students. Athletics is kind of the sizzle of the steak. The sizzle gets them in the building and then they see our faculty, they see our students, they see our administration, and that’s the meat and that sells itself,” said DePaul Prep Athletic Director Patrick Mahoney.

The athletics have been sizzling indeed in recent years with three state boys basketball championships, a football state championship, a cross-country state championship as well as multiple other state finals appearances.

DePaul Prep is the successor to Gordon Tech high school. In 2012, a group of trustees and administrators of DePaul University was asked by the Archdiocese of Chicago and the priests and brothers of the Congregation of the Resurrection to assist Gordon Tech High School. The story at the time was that the Bishop George and the Archdiocese wanted another high school to fill the need for a high performing high school to fill that need on Chicago’s northside. As the academic partnership with DePaul University progressed successfully, the school officially became DePaul College Prep in 2014. 

“We did demographic studies and focus groups before we even started DePaul Prep. What we heard from people is yes, there is a need for another catholic faith-based values, academically rigorous, high school to serve those needs in Chicago,”said Mary Dempsey.

“It's more difficult for us to figure where our child is going to go to high school than where they're going to go to college. If you can build an academically strong, faith based high school, we will come and certainly that’s what parents have done.”

DePaul Prep as a high school has grown dramatically in since moving into the former DeVry University facility on Rockwell Avenue adjacent to Lane Tech High School. The student population jumped from approximately 550 students in the former Gordon Tech at Addison and California to currently 1300 students.

DePaul Prep’s head basketball coach and Director of Admissions Tom Kleinschmidt was emotional in giving remarks at the event with the announcement of the main basketball court being named in his honor. He has deep connections to both Gordon Tech and DePaul Prep.

“I've had great memories and I've been going to the [Gordon Tech’s Tom Winiecki Gym] since 1980. It's been fantastic to me. I played basketball there, played for my favorite coach of all time, [Steve Pappas] there, played with some of my best friends in the world there. I've coached great teams, I get the coach with friends there. It's been awesome, but this is the next step on the northside here. Our kids deserve it and it’s coming to fruition. So it’s very special,” Kleinshmidt said.

Despite loads of memories and history in the old Gordon Tech facility, Kleinschmidt was clearing looking to the future.

“The three courts in the new gym are nice. The competition gym separately is a big plus, so we can have practices running on lower levels in the field house. And then the varsity teams can practice where they're going to play games. So that's pretty cool.”

Some Photos from DePaul Prep 3rd Place 56-46 Victory over York

Aaron Britton posted a tweet that DePaul Prep has a unique place in history as being the only team to win their last game of the year for last five seasons—three championship wins and two third place wins.

The Rams handled York late Friday evening overcoming injuries and exhaustion from the historic and draining loss to Benet earlier in the day.

The third place game doesn’t mean what it once did for the Rams in light of the three consecutive state championship. Still, it beats losing.

Rykan Woo was upbeat after the third place game. He told me it was great having one last chance to play with his guys. It was great for me to see them play together again one last time. It was fun visiting with the players and coaches after the game too.

This is a special group of seniors. Four appearances in the state finals. I got to know these young men over these years. I am in the words of Douglas McGregor, “mightily impressed.” Wonderful young men. Credits to themselves, their families and the school.

I wish them all the best and expect frequent visit to games to the last year of games at the Tom Winiecki Gym.

Here are some photos from the third place game.

25-26 DePaul Prep Basketball in the Books

I suppose it’s okay to write about the season at this point. When the season opened the DePaul Prep Rams had won three consecutive state champions, a remarkable accomplishment anyway one looks at it. But there were buts. They moved to class 4A. A fourth consecutive would be daunting.

And there was Benet. The season has shown us that Benet and DePaul Prep exceptionally good teams. Clearly, they were the class of high school basketball this season. What surprised me a little was how evenly matched the teams are.

Friday’s game proved that. The slimmest of margins separated these two teams. The story might be entirely the opposite absent one play, or one call, or one bounce of the ball.

I have been playing that game over and over in my head for a day now. The press. The turnover, such as it was. The inbounds. The free throw.

With just under three minutes to play, DePaul put on a full court press on Benet bringing the ball in.

“We went to it late. It worked for us,” Rams’ head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said.

“We didn’t do it well the first time we played them. But we worked on it and it worked out well for us. We didn’t want to do it too early so they would get comfortable with it. I worked out for us.”

Benet head coach Gene Heidkamp reflected on the press as well.

“We struggled. The irony is, and I give them a lot of credit. We played them in Pontiac. They pressed us at the end of the game. We ended up taking the game out. It was like a two-point game. We ended up pushing it out to almost double digits. Today, they came at us with their pressure and we coughed the ball up and they got back in the game,” Heidkamp said.

“We worked on it in practice. We saw in the film what areas we needed to work on,” Rams’s senior center Rashaun Porter explained.

“We wanted to really execute. We all knew that we wanted to try to win. We wanted to get the dub. We were willing to do whatever we could to get that win.”

Kleinschmidt knew he might need that press against Benet again. He and his Rams prepared and practiced it. It worked. The Rams erased the deficit and had that ball and a chance to win. More evidence of just how even these teams are.

One of the things about this DePaul Prep versus Benet business is how close the coaches and players are. Blog contributor John McMontgomery did a great piece about brothers Tom Kleinschmidt and David Kleinschmidt. David, a former sophomore coach for DePaul Prep is now the sophomore coach and varsity assistant at Benet.

Tom Kleinschmidt and Benet coach Gene Heidkamp are friends. It’s a little more too.

“When I was at St. Ben’s high school, my first coaching job. I recruited Gene [Heidkamp] when he was in eighth grade and St. Gertrude’s,” explains DePaul Prep long time assistant coach Kenny Gryzwa.

“So I have known him a long time. I was heartbroken when he didn’t come to St. Ben’s. The team that I recruited him to be on ended up being ranked third or fourth in the City in class 2A at the time. He would have been on the team. He is a wonderful, great, great coach.”

Shortly after defeating the Rams in Champaign, Heidkamp had mixed emotions.

“I don’t like it at all. I don’t enjoy it. There was nothing enjoyable about those thirty-two minutes. Everything was a grind for both teams. We know each other so well. We know each other’s personnel. Our kids are friends off the court. I love Tommy. He’s the best. And then Coach Gryzwa and all the guys they have over there. I like the kids. I have so much respect for the kids. It’s a shame that somebody had to lose this game. I would have felt the same way if it was us. I am not surprised it came right down to the wire.”

The same was true for Kleinschmidt and Gryzwa.

“It’s awkward. I feel the same way. It’s awkward. You want to play the best. We are two of the better teams in the state, nationally actually. It’s awkward playing against him,” Kleinschmidt said.

“It’s bittersweet. It’s different. It’s hard to explain, but I’ve got to say it’s almost worse because you know these are good friends and you know what kind of competitors they are, Gryzwa said.

“They are like you. And you want to beat them bad. And not because you don’t like them but because you do like them. It’s kind of hard to explain but you know they appreciate what you accomplish when you beat them. We know that they work as hard at what they do as we do. And we respect that. And so that win means so much more.”

This DePaul Prep program is on the verge of becoming a thing, a historic thing. The one part to overcome is the not being in the top class for the three state championships. With DePaul Prep in 4A now, with a little more success, DePaul Prep and their coach will certainly be in consideration for a one of the historic greats in state history.

“What Tom has built in twelve years is nothing short of amazing,” said DePaul Prep athletic director Pat Mahoney.

“The standard, the culture, those are the buzz words you hear, but it’s real. It’s real. And the kids are a joy to be around. It’s not just win at all costs. It’s not just we are machines and we are going to win. There is pure joy in these guys. Just being around these guys makes you happy.”

“When he came in the first couple years we were struggling,” recounted John “Maz” Maciaszkiewicz, the decades long score keeper for Gordon Tech and DePaul Prep teams.

“I can remember the first year he came in and he looked at the schedule. We had lost 29 games in a row in the Catholic League. It’s important to win the Catholic League. Back in the 70s, if you wanted to win the Catholic League, you had to go through Gordon. You had to beat Gordon. It’s one of those things. Kids started coming in. Things changed. Kids believe in his system. They just play. It’s once in a lifetime, when you get the right coach at the right time.”

“In this era, you might not see [this] again,” Gryzwa said speaking of Kleinschmidt’s six state final appearances in twelve years of coaching.

“As we move forward, the way the parity seems to be happening now, especially with the public league being down and it’s so competitive all around it’s going to hard for teams to keep repeating that. The talent is going to be more spread out. I don’t think it is going to happen,” Grzywa continued.

“We were pulling up here and I looked at him, seeing the big circular dome, I say, ‘Tommy, can you believe how many times you have been here? Did you ever think you would be here?’”

Believe it. Believe it will happen again. Next season will be here soon enough.

DePaul Prep Falls to Benet 39-38 in 4A Semi-final

[Preview of this week’s Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

This one hurt. The two best high school basketball teams in Illinois faced off in the 4A semi-final in Champaign Friday afternoon. Benet Academy’s Colin Stack made a free throw with 1.1 seconds on the clock to give the Red Wings (36-1) the 39-38 win over the DePaul Prep Rams (32-4).

As close games go, never has one been closer. These teams know each other. The players know each other. The coaches are friends and relatives.  It was a shame one team had to win and one lose in the season’s penultimate show down.

“I didn’t have any pep talk, any motivational talk. You know these guys so well. They know you so well. We are down in Champaign,” Benet head coach Gene Heidkamp told his team before the game.

The Rams jumped out to small first quarter lead. The Red Wings drew even and led at the quarter. They were tied at the half. One point separated them at the end of the third.

Benet pushed the slight 4th quarter lead to six with under three minutes to play. Didn’t look good for the Rams.

After DePaul Prep’s senior center Rashaun Porter made it a four-point game, the Rams went to a full court press.

“We didn’t do [the press] well the first time we played them [in the Pontiac] so we worked on it and it worked out well for us. We didn’t want to do it too early so they get comfortable with it,” said DePaul Prep Rams coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

Catching the Red Wings a little flat-footed, the Rams trapped the inbounds pass. Rykan Woo stole the ball under the basket and instantly made it a two-point game.

More press. Rashaun Porter Porter scored inside off another steal. 38-38 with 1:11 to play.

Then another steal and the Rams had the ball and chance to win. With under ten seconds to play, Rams AJ Chambers drives to his right, collides with Benet’s Perry Tchiegne who tipped the ball away. Benet’s Jayden Wright recovered the ball. Streaking up court, Wright passed to Edvardas Stasys in the lane. Rykan Woo smartly foul him on the floor—no shooting foul which resulted in an inbounds pass.

Then there were series of five consecutive times out while the teams tried to draw up a play, defend a play, then that again, then that still another time.

“I don’t know how many times outs there were. There might have been eight,” Heidkamp said.

“He kept changing the play, so I kept changing the play. It just depended on who was taking it out and who was around the rim. We would see the set, the I would guess what they doing, then he would change it,” Kleinschmidt said.

Finally, Benet’s Jayden Wright passed the ball inbounds to seven-footer Colin Stack. Stack was fouled but missed the bucket with 1.1 on the clock but was fould.

First free throw, no good. Second free throw. Good. 39-38.

Benet wins and advances to championship game against fellow East Suburban Catholic Conference team Marist.

Rams’ senior center Rashaun Porter lead all scorers with 14 points. Rykan Woo had 11. Jayden Wright led the Red Wings with 11. Edvardas Stasys had 10.

The DePaul Prep Rams string of consecutive state Championships comes to an end. It’s been quite a procession of basketball playoff success for the Rams. Six finals appearances in the last six finals dating back to 2019. And in one of the COVID years, the Rams won the Chipolte tournament finishing the season ranked No. 1. Even more remarkable is DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt’s record. In twelve years as head coach at Gordon Tech/DePaul Prep, Tom’s teams have been in the finals six of those twelve years.

The Rams won the third-place game 56-46 over York late Friday evening.